…aims to raise consciousness and prompt conversation among current students about the oppression of non-human animals. This will be achieved through examination of intersections between the domination of other animals and the domination of certain social groups. The conference will emphasize direct action strategies for both animal liberation and other social change movements, incorporating academic theory and praxis. Finally, this conference will launch “Students for Critical Animal Studies” — a new group with the goal of organizing student activists committed to animal rights into a larger community with formal ties — therefore aiming to strengthen bonds between student activists through social events and facilitated collaboration.

During the weekend, about 50 Vassar students, prominent animal rights activists, individuals heavily involved in an array of social justive movements, and a couple Canadian activists currently impacting consciousness at McGill University united for a variety ofpanels and workshops. Among the intriguing and provocative discussion topics included “Towards a Multispecies, Feminist and Decolonial Scientific Practice”; “Whose Category Is It Anyway? Farm Sanctuaries and the Future of Farm Animals”; and “Toward a Culture of Positive Peace: Why Animal Rights must be a Focus of the Modern Nonviolent Social Movement.” Though absolutely ecstatic that thought-provoking conversations like these would take place on my very own campus, I deeply regret not having even a smidgen of free time on either Saturday or Sunday to sit in on any workshops or panels. However, I eagerly attended the first night (Friday) of the conference, not to mention spent all day cooking dinner for the 40-60 people who came to the commencement of this exciting event. Perhaps I can look to a launching a vegan catering company in the future?

After filling our bellies with enough tasty vegan noms to feed an army, I and the rest of the conference-goers settled in for the first talk of the conference, delivered by Breeze Harper, author of the Sistah Vegan anthology, via Skype. Her talk, entitled “‘Never Be Silent’ and Trayvon Martin: PETA, Neoliberal Whiteness, and Vegan Consumer Activism,” urged vegans to question the products they consume and whether or not they actually deserve the label of “cruelty-free,” such as tomatoes and chocolate—products that don’t contain the flesh and secretions of non-human animals, but that more often than not depend upon human slavery for their manufacture. While I agree vehemently that the compassion of our consumer choices should not end with purchasing animal-product-free goods, I don’t believe that we should simply stop consuming altogether, as Breeze seemed to argue later in her talk. If vegans remove their conscious consumerism from the economy, how else can we demonstrate a demand for truly ethical products? Personally, I would find it difficult to continue my activism if I didn’t believe that what I do or do not choose to consume would affect society on a level greater than that of the individual. Rather than attempt to remove ourselves completely from our capitalist system, we should fight within it to achieve our goals in a more realistic fashion.

VARC co-presidents Rocky and Daniel introducing the conference.

Conference attendees listening to Breeze’s Skype talk.

After we bade Breeze goodbye and ended our Skype chat, Anthony Nocella of Hamline University took the stage to deliver a presentation entitled “From Ableism to Racism in the Animal Liberation Movement: Promoting Eco-ability and Prison Abolition/Transformative Justice.” As I pondered Anthony’s words, which advocated for an incorporation of the rights of the disabled (or rather, individuals deemed disabled by society, as Anthony phrased it), I began to feel a bit overwhelmed—not only should I advocate on behalf of non-human animals, but my activism should now encompass workers rights, civil rights, a more meaningful fair trade label, the fall of capitalism, and the rights of the disabled? While all of these movements share commendable goals of ending discrimination and creating a more just society, I wondered if veganism should, or even functionally could, include such a broad spectrum of advocacy in addition to its primary intention of animal liberation. I find it quite exemplary that a great many individuals who live a vegan lifestyle extend their compassion beyond that of non-human animals, but worry that this all-encompassing view of veganism may perpetuate the lifestyle as intimidating and unachievable for non-vegans, thus preventing them from taking even the first step toward eliminating animal flesh and secretions from their diet. We should absolutely continue to fight in a variety of social justice movements, but do we really need to lump them all together under the label of veganism, thereby potentially blurring our movement’s main goal?

Anthony speaking.

Even though my hectic schedule permitted me to attend only two talks of the conference, they both left me with much to contemplate. I look forward to continuing these compelling conversations with my fellow VARC-ers, as well as hosting the second-annual conference next year. In the meantime, I’d love to hear your thoughts on any of the musings I’ve posed in regards to the conference talks.

Dear Ali, Thanks for taking the time to write this up and initiate dialogue. I really appreciate it.

In response to this: “We should absolutely continue to fight in a variety of social justice movements, but do we really need to lump them all together under the label of veganism, thereby potentially blurring our movement’s main goal?”

I’m wondering who ‘we’ is? I’m also thinking of how it’s not necessarily about ‘lumping them all together’ as much as the concept of solidarity and understanding how anti-speciesism, racism, ableism, etc are not separate, but all connected. Speciesism can be one’s central focus to eradicate, but I think if this is the case (that if it is central) anti-specisism activism can’t fully be realized unless there is a literacy, an awareness, and solidarity against other forms of oppression.

I’m also going to return back to the ‘we’ in your statement. Which ‘we’ are you talking about? I ask because I know plenty of vegans who, because they are part of one or more marginalized groups, don’t think about how they are making their vegan activism more ‘blurred’ by being in solidarity with other movements. For example, my friend “Amanda” is an animal rights activist vegan, but she also is heavily involved in LGBTQ rights and is fighting against environmental racism in her indigenous community. As an indigenous queer woman vegan, it is not like it’s ‘easy’ to only focus on her vegan activism. She must be aware of and build solidarity with other movements and communities for her own survival.

I myself never really thought it was a ‘burden’ to integrate anti-racism and decolonial activism into my vegan activism . This is because as a black racialized female subject in the USA who grew up working class in an all white rural and not so friendly town, my anti-racism, decolonial thinking, and black feminism HAD to be part of my veganism; I had to ‘join’ these movements. I simply didn’t have the privilege to think if I only wanted to do veganism because I thought anything else integrated into it would ‘dilute’ or ‘blur’ the movement’s main goal. I’d imagine there was a time when First Wave white middle class straight feminists thought that feminism’s goals would be blurred if issues of race, class, and sexual orientation injustices were brought it… but now look at Post-2000 era feminism in the USA and its richness from including a more critical and holistic approach.

So, to answer your question (from my own subjective opinion), it’s not about ‘lumping’ anything together as much as it’s about solidarity and holistic activism and deeply understanding that it’s a privilege to even be able to choose if one does or does not want to commit to more than than ‘just one social justice cause.’

Thanks for visiting my blog and commenting so thoughtfully! I certainly don’t mean to undermine the amazing work that those involved in the vegan movement accomplish for other marginalized groups–I simply wonder if that particular work should be called “veganism” anymore, or if we should refer to each aspect of our activism for what if really is. For example, fighting for animal liberation would be referred to as veganism; fighting for gay rights would be called LGBTQ activism (or something to that effect); fighting for civil rights would be called anti-racism; etc. By doing so, the primary intention of each movement is solidified and legitimized for those outside the movement.